Finished fabric of a conventional knitting machine generally is rolled up by a fabric winding machine. Reference can be found in R.O.C. patent No. M243472. It discloses an improved fabric conveying roller for a fabric winding machine. The fabric winding machine has two side chests. The two side chests have two tracks located in a middle portion in a diagonal and upward manner to receive two ends of a roller. There are a first fabric conveying axle and a second fabric conveying axle transversely located below the two tracks in a parallel manner. When the fabric winding machine proceeds fabric rolling operation, the first and second fabric conveying axles move the fabric to be rolled up by the roller. During fabric rolling operation, the amount of fabric on the roller gradually increases, the roller moves the fabric upwards along the tracks. The fabric winding machine thus constructed has drawbacks in practice, notably:
1. The entire batch of the fabric rolled on the roller presses downwards on the first and second fabric conveying axles. When the amount of the fabric rolled on the roller increases, the fabric is heavier and results in a greater downward pressure on the first and second fabric conveying axles. The fabric becomes tighter. Hence varying fabric tightness is formed.
2. The roller is merely wedged in the tracks with a less desirable coupling effect. The roller could be thrown out of the machine chassis during fabric winding operation and cause hazards.
3. It provides a smaller fabric holding capacity, about 20 kgs. Fabric dying and treatment are more troublesome, and a greater amount of wastes are produced.
To remedy the aforesaid disadvantages, other improvements have been proposed, such as R.O.C. patent No. M303921 and I296293 granted to the Applicant. These two patents propose a fabric winding machine with side chests at two sides, a fabric winding means and a fabric conveying means interposed between the two side chests, and a driving means to drive the fabric winding means and fabric conveying means through a belt and pulleys. The fabric conveying means has a rack arm and a fabric roll-over roller located on the rack arm. During fabric winding, the amount of fabric rolled on the roller of the fabric winding means gradually increases to butt the fabric roll-over roller and generate friction to drive the roller to take up the fabric. Hence the fabric roll-over roller keeps pressing on the fabric with the entire weight without forming a tighter fabric tension. However, they still leave a lot to be desired, such as:
1. At initial fabric winding, in order to ensure that the roller can roll the fabric tightly, the belt and pulleys that drive the roller have to be formed in a tighter condition so that the roller has a greater rolling force to roll the fabric. The belt wears off easily under the tighter condition for a prolonged period of time and results in a shorter life span. Hence the belt has to be displaced frequently. Repair and maintenance cost and time are higher. It is not economic effect.
2. As the belt easily wears off at the tighter condition, friction between the belt and pulleys diminishes and results in slipping. This causes insufficient initial fabric rolling force and too loose of fabric on the roller. The rolled fabric tends to skew at high speed rotation of the fabric winding machine. When the amount of rolling fabric increases and fabric skews to one side of the roller, during operation of the fabric winding machine, unbalance occurs and operation of the fabric winding machine could be interrupted.